Weighing in

You'd think that I would be able to manage to have a simple weigh in post be written on time. Apparently not! Between husband, children, and dogs, I barely have had time to sit down!

This week's weigh in was quite a shock. I lost 2.6 pounds! Holey cow! That was completely unexpected, as ... um ... yeah ... we went out to eat four times. For dinner. And at least once for lunch. It has been crazy busy around here, and my husband tends to balk at cereal or oatmeal for dinner, so he made the executive decision for us to eat out. Thankfully, I think the busyness is over, at least for a while, so we're back to eating food that we prepare at home most of the time. Our only regular eating out is pizza on Wednesday night before church because it's fast and easy.

That brings my total weight loss to 56.6 pounds. Oh my word.

I've been making do with my husband's XL t-shirts most of the time. They are starting to be too big on my shoulders. For someone who lived in 3XL shirts (and was honestly about to outgrow those), that is more than a little astonishing. So I dug out the free t-shirt from the pet relocation company we used, and sure enough, that size Large shirt that my daughter was wearing as a nightshirt fit better than most of what I had been wearing.

Now if only I could get rid of the belly fat!

This week we'll be getting back into routine that will include actually getting the laundry folded and meals cooked at home. I'm not expecting a major loss like that again though. Losing that much in one week was probably related to the fact that I have been on the go so much!

A new recipe

A friend recently sent a link to a new (for me) bran muffin recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook.

I think it is perhaps the best bran muffin recipe I've ever made. And I admit that I was very skeptical, as it has some ... uncommon ... muffin ingredients, like All-Bran cereal and cottage cheese. As always when I've decided I like a new recipe, I added it into My Recipes in My Fitness Pal, and -- shock and surprise! -- the muffins are only 71 calories per serving, with 2 grams of protein. Well, I'll be darned!

On my first go with a recipe, I usually follow it exactly. However, this recipe called for walnuts, which I didn't have in my cabinet, and I don't particularly like anyway, so I used pecans instead. I also used dates for the fruit instead of the raisins. Both are listed in the recipe as an option. Those two differences to the original are reflected in the calorie content from My Fitness Pal. Also, I used a Pampered Chef small scoop to fill the muffin cups, which gave me a serving size of 30 muffins. I probably could/should have weighed them, but the batteries in my kitchen scale need to be replaced.

(Yeah, I'm never going to make it as a food photographer.)

My daughter has requested that I leave out the dates next time. She's not fond of raisins either, so that doesn't surprise me, and I don't think it will detract from the flavor at all. Other than the dates, she loved them. I think I will try a batch with dried cherries or cranberries as well.

I've actually cut most wheat and processed foods from my diet, but I do enjoy some sort of baked treat every now and then. These have made the cut and are worth it to me.

Happy baking!

Weighing in

Oh yeah. It has been a while! And to be quite honest, I've definitely not been concentrating on weight *loss* during my time away from the blog. My exercise has really fallen by the wayside, but thankfully, my nutrition knowledge has really stuck with me. I really don't even want to go back to the unhealthy ways, and it isn't a sacrifice at all, just a choice. Every time we were at a buffet (why do they always have to choose a buffet?!), I made the rounds to see what were my best options before I even considered digging in.

So ... on to the results. I can't even remember the last time I mentioned here, so we'll just start anew, shall we? This morning's weigh in was 183 pounds, exactly 54 pounds lighter than when I started my journey. That's only right at a 5 pound loss (4.8, I think) for this year. Not so great, but I can't beat myself up over it. I definitely will have to step it up though, if I want to meet my goal of losing 30 pounds this year. At my current rate, I'll only lose 20!

I started walking again yesterday. Walking as in exercise-walking, not the normal 'round the block thing with the urchins. I can tell that my endurance level has decreased, but I'm not overly concerned. I will get it back! My plan for this week is to walk every single day, even if it's only a couple of miles. On Saturday we (as a family) are going to participate in a spring clean for a local historic cemetery. Raking leaves, picking up sticks, cleaning some of the stones of moss ... just making it look nice for the community. I always feel like I get a good workout in whenever there is yard work involved!

Onward and downward! (And we'll hope it is slightly more downward than in previous weeks!)

Hmmm.

We have been traveling lately, quite a lot, which is -- in part -- why there have been no posts! Thankfully, I think we are home for a while.

The photo is of one of the many vending machines we encountered on our travels. Normally I just glance and move on, but this one was titled "Healthy Habits" so naturally, I took a closer look.

Look again with me ....

How many healthy items do you see?